the tinker
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Last Saturday I purchased 4 bikes. A Hawthorne 5 bar, 1946 Columbia, a late 30s girls Western Flyer and a ? year Huffman.
The first thing I did was part out the girls Western Flyer, and save the springer to put on the 5 bar.
The next thing was to cut down and re thread the girls fork to fit a boys bike.
Then disassemble the 5 bar.
Then apply Parks paint stripper and then power wash the 5 bar frame. Apply stripper again and scrape the frame and then power wash once more.Finally power wire brush the frame and then sand......three coats of paint on one crusty old frame ....gone:o
One problem did surface
....a crack. right where the bottom 2nd bar attaches to the seat post down bar. It had been cracked and re brazed at one time. who ever did it did a decent job but it cracked again. I think a lot of these bikes went to the scrapyard early because of this.
It's no wonder not many of these bikes survive.
I will not pile on more brazing rod on this as it will only be more noticeable and will crack again.
From my hot rod days there is a product that we used, good old "J.B.Weld" It's the best thing since canned beer. What I intend to do is block off the seatpost down tube about 3/4 s way down by shoving some steel wool down there. Then fill the whole tube with the J.B.[ leaving just enough room to put the seat post in] then shove a 3/8 steel rod in the center and let harden......problem solved
Today I painted the frame black. ....and went down to the hidden underground parts bunker beneath Colson Command and dug out some "Monkey wards" Riverside Mate tires. Wish they were whitewalls but this is close to what this bike had on the day it left the factory. I'll keep you posted....
The first thing I did was part out the girls Western Flyer, and save the springer to put on the 5 bar.
The next thing was to cut down and re thread the girls fork to fit a boys bike.
Then disassemble the 5 bar.
Then apply Parks paint stripper and then power wash the 5 bar frame. Apply stripper again and scrape the frame and then power wash once more.Finally power wire brush the frame and then sand......three coats of paint on one crusty old frame ....gone:o
One problem did surface
....a crack. right where the bottom 2nd bar attaches to the seat post down bar. It had been cracked and re brazed at one time. who ever did it did a decent job but it cracked again. I think a lot of these bikes went to the scrapyard early because of this.It's no wonder not many of these bikes survive.
I will not pile on more brazing rod on this as it will only be more noticeable and will crack again.
From my hot rod days there is a product that we used, good old "J.B.Weld" It's the best thing since canned beer. What I intend to do is block off the seatpost down tube about 3/4 s way down by shoving some steel wool down there. Then fill the whole tube with the J.B.[ leaving just enough room to put the seat post in] then shove a 3/8 steel rod in the center and let harden......problem solved
Today I painted the frame black. ....and went down to the hidden underground parts bunker beneath Colson Command and dug out some "Monkey wards" Riverside Mate tires. Wish they were whitewalls but this is close to what this bike had on the day it left the factory. I'll keep you posted....
